The Last Manual BMW Will Be the M4

Are you a fan of slamming through gears thanks to a manual transmission? Unfortunately, for those us who enjoy some clutch action, the manual gearbox is a dying a long and slow death thanks to the improvements made on automatic transmissions. Thankfully, there are still a few automakers out there that are committed to bringing manual transmissions to the world, like BMW is doing with theirM4.

See a Manual M4 in Action Below

If you’ve ever driven a manual BMW M Performance car before, you know that it is a sweet treat, akin to a dessert. That being said, our beloved gearboxes are being replaced with paddle shifters. Bob Sorokanich of Road & Track recently sat down with Klaus Fröhlich, the head of development at BMW and a board member, to talk manual gearboxes. Sorokanich asked if the next M3 and M4 would have a manual option. His response was both sobering and uplifting: “I think, in the overall portfolio, manuals will disappear. But I think M4 should be the fortress of manual. So the last manual transmission which will die, it should die in an M4, as late as possible. That’s my view.”

At least we now know that there are those in BMW that want the manual transmission to live on and the M4 will continue to carry them. But how long can they hold out offering the manual option? Only time will tell.